The Prey
He pulled on her elbow, aggressively, as if to make sure she had no choice but to follow. He could hear their footsteps getting closer and closer. He pushed her down some, so not even their heads poked out above the still tender, unripe husks of corn….
He knew they were going to catch them eventually, but he couldn’t help but want to, need to run. There wasn’t much else he could do to save her.
At only twelve, she should still be just a kid to them, but he knew all too well that they’d see her as something else, could feel it in every heated gaze their kind threw her way when they were still safe, in the city, with Father wielding that giant rifle as easily as he had his scalpel.
He had to save her. He was all she had left.
The corn field went out as far as his eye could see, so very green and pretty, if he could only take a second to breathe it in. But he didn’t have a second.
He had felt her stumble and slowed just enough to not make her fall. That would make noise and they couldn’t afford to make any noise.
“I can smell the bitch,” he’d heard too close behind them and he grabbed on to Sadie’s arm harder then, looking into her dark brown eyes, beseeching her to keep going. He could see a copse of trees just beyond the last stretch, the giant oaks looking still and silent, not even the moss moving on them. There was a calmness in their dark shadows, a place he hoped they could hide long enough for the marauders to move on to easier prey.
Someone else’s daughter or mother or sister. But he couldn’t feel guilty about that. Not when Sadie trembled as she ran so close to him. Not when he was all she had left to keep her safe.
*******************
This is my freewrite thingie for today. I try to do the ones I find the time for. Apologies to any purists if they stumble on a typo or something. This was, indeed, written in five minutes. And dropped in unedited.
If you want to participate in Freewrites - follow 
*********************
Want to join a fantastic community of creatives of all kinds? Drop by the Isle. Click the treasure map below to join us on discord.
img credit pixabay
Isle of Write Footer and Logo created by 